Windeby Girl Research Paper

Windeby Girl.......who is she or he? How did they die? Where was his or her family? What part of the world did she originally come from? These are all questions which have plagued historical researchers for many years, largely due to the fact that there are no pieces of written evidence that would help to answer these questions, meaning that interpretation of archaeological sources is the only basis for trying to find the answers. As is usually the case with interpretation though, many different conclusions are made and therefore, ultimately we are still uncertain about which interpretation reveals the answer to these questions. Records indicate that this was the first body to be found in Windeby, but it is widely considered that the records
These include: committing adultery, sacrifice or homicide. The theory I have chosen though, is that she died from natural causes. There are multiple pieces of evidence that show us the Windeby girl may have potentially died of natural causes.
When the Windeby girl’s body was discovered, it showed no signs of any visible wounds or any type of injury. At the time the body was found with half of the hair on the head shaved. The researchers found growth disruptions in the bone structure during their investigations and these tests indicated that the Windeby girl was possibly malnourished and may have died through lack of food or natural causes. All of these pieces of evidence point towards the theory of natural causes. Another theory states that the Windeby girl was also blindfolded with a woollen band covering her eyes so she was unable to see. A German archaeologist Michael Gebuhr from the University of Hamburg believes that the body was blindfolded “to protect the living from the gaze of the dead”. This argument is key as a lot of the arguments surrounding sacrifice or homicide would suggest that the blindfold was used to protect or weaken the Windeby Girl in her final moments of life so she wouldn’t have to witness her impending